Erect, perennial herb to c. 1 m high, with woody rootstock forming large clumps; stems glabrous, simple. Lvs subsessile, opposite, 3.5-9 × 1-3.5 cm, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous except for ciliate margins; base rounded to subcordate; apex ± acuminate. Infl. a large terminal pyramidal panicle; branches and pedicels puberulent; fls fragrant. Bracts ovate to lanceolate in upper fls, > pedicels and also sometimes > calyx, ciliate. Pedicels very short, except in uppermost fl.; hairs eglandular. Calyx 7-9 mm long; tube > lobes, with eglandular hairs, with a transparent membrane between lobes (below sinus); lobes linear-subulate, not reflexing. Corolla tube 1.5-2 cm long, cylindric, with eglandular, curly hairs; limb 2-3 cm diam., glabrous; lobes suborbicular to obovate, usually white, pink, rose or purplish. Anthers > filaments, 2-2.5 mm long. Style c. 12 mm long, filiform. Capsule not seen.